Montreal and Tampa

This has been a fairly even series all year, and this series holds way more potential than I believe most are giving it credit for. This series is being fought by two teams who get very little respect in similar ways. Neither team was predicted to be here and both teams are experts at "finding ways to win" despite circumstances... No Stamkos, No Bishop, No Problem. And when it comes to the Habs this team has looked phenomenal for stretches and horrible for stretches. The Bolts players love their coach, the Habs players loathe their coach...and yet...take all the similarities and differences away and these two teams are 1 point apart.

The Ek's factors in this series

..the goalies are the obvious, but personally I believe this is where Montreal fans will learn what they got in Danny Briere..

My Pick...Montreal in 6



Columbus and Pittsburgh

Look out for the Jackets in game 1. The pressure is all on Pittsburgh, but I don't doubt they can handle it. The key players on the Penguins have been here before, but the playoff ghosts from the recent past are weighing heavy going into game 1. If Pitt can exorcize those demons tonight they could roll in this series. If they run into a hot Bobrovsky and aren't prepared to meet the compete and work level of Columbus tonight they could find themselves in for a very long and frustrating series. The Penguins recent playoff losses have seen them address many issues and the team has learned to play better defense as a result.

The Ek's factors in this series

Goalies, Power plays and 4th lines...The NHL playoffs are always about these three factors....more on that in a later blog...but this series is the best.

The NHL put the Jackets into this division to develop the natural rivalry with Pittsburgh and there is no better way to throw gasoline on that fire than a first round series this year. The Blue Jackets are the youngest team in the NHL, which is incredible when you watch the maturity with which they play.

My Pick: Blue Jackets in 6





Happy PLAYOFFS!

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